Grey’s Anatomy has officially said goodbye to Jake Borelli as a series regular, with his episodes on the 2024 TV schedule marking the end of a seven-season run as fan favorite doctor Levi Schmitt. It’s been a memorable ride for the actor, whose character went from the clumsy intern known as “Glasses” to becoming one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most iconic queer characters. As he reflected on his time on the show, one memory that stuck out to him involved one of the series’ biggest shockers, and what made it so noteworthy is that he experienced it the same way the fans did — when the episode aired.
Flash back to 2020, Meredith’s storyline on the Season 17 premiere reflected real times, with Ellen Pompeo’s character getting COVID. While she was unconscious, she retreated to a beach in her mind, and at the end of the episode, she encounters none other than McDreamy himself — her late husband Derek Shepherd — who died in Season 11. Except, that’s not what happened in the script Jake Borelli and Grey’s Anatomy co-star Jaicy Elliot had read. As Borelli told BuzzFeed:
Jaicy Elliot [Dr. Taryn Helm] and I, mid-pandemic, are watching the season premiere of Season 17 of Grey's Anatomy live. Mind you, we've read all the scripts. We've been in all the episodes. These folks lied to us. The script was Meredith talking to her dead mom. And all of a sudden, McDreamy runs down the beach. Jaicy and I lost our shit. We had no idea. And then subsequently, we had no idea that any of the other people were coming back.
It sounds like their reaction to Patrick Dempsey’s return to Grey’s Anatomy was pretty much the same as every other person who was watching that night, except Jaicy Elliot and Jake Borelli might have even been more surprised, because they had expected to see Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), not Derek-freaking-Shepherd!
Then-showrunner Krista Vernoff has admitted to pulling one over on the cast for the sake of keeping that huge moment a secret, saying she kept writers’ assistants out of the writer’s room during that time, and the cuts she sent to studio didn’t include that scene. During the table read — as Jake Borelli mentioned — the scripts said “Ellis Grey,” and Vernoff had instructed Ellen Pompeo to say, “Mom,” rather than “Derek,” in those breath-taking final seconds.
It definitely made for a memorable experience, not just for fans, but apparently for the cast and crew as well.
Jake Borelli’s exit from Grey’s Anatomy was announced ahead of Season 21 amid budget cuts at ABC, and while some fans have been frustrated over losing series regulars like him and Midori Francis, at least Levi went out on a high note.
We’ve got a while to wait before the medical drama returns, with its spring premiere set to air on ABC’s 2025 TV schedule at 10 p.m. ET Thursday, March 6. In the meantime you can relive Jake Borelli’s stint on the show starting with the Season 14 premiere, or rewatch from any of these great Grey’s Anatomy starting points. Every episode is available to stream with a Hulu subscription, and the first 20 seasons can be seen with a Netflix subscription.
